The coronavirus variant initially discovered in the UK is now one of the most prevalent in the world, being more contagious than others.
However, despite its higher level of transmission, a study affirms that this variant is not more lethal. Dr. Elmer Huerta explains the findings.
You can listen to this episode on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information on the new coronavirus. Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
When was the British variant of the coronavirus discovered?
A news item, released shortly before Christmas 2020, reported that a variant of the new coronavirus called B.1.1.7 had been discovered on September 20 in Kent, south of London. This variant, in mid-November, represented between 20 and 30% of the cases of covid-19 in that region, and showing its contagiousness, at the beginning of December it already caused 60% of the cases of the disease in the south of London.
In this regard, one of the most controversial issues about the new variants of the new coronavirus – including the British variant – is whether they cause a different, more aggressive or lethal disease.
Today we will see what is known about the type of disease and the lethality of the British variant of the new coronavirus.
A recent study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases of April 12, gives us an excellent answer to those questions, concluding that although the variant is more contagious, it does not cause a different disease nor is it more lethal.
The study of high scientific value was, however, relatively straightforward in design.
Covid-19: UK variant effects 0:44
The UK variant, is it more lethal?
What the authors did was count the number of patients with COVID-19 admitted to two hospital centers in London and find out how many of them were infected with the new B.1.1.7 variant and how many were infected by another.
Once this data was found, the researchers proceeded to study the medical records of the patients and compare the severity of the disease, the possibility of complications and death between the two groups of patients.
The research studied 496 COVID-19 patients who were admitted to two London hospitals between November 9 and December 20, 2020. All of them had a swab and diagnosis with molecular testing.
The study dates were selected because the first hospitalized patient with variant B.1.1.7 was admitted on November 9, 2020, and variant B.1.1.7 became dominant in both hospitals on December 20, this date coinciding with a sudden increase in hospitalizations that overwhelmed the capacity of the city’s health services.
Of the 496 hospitalized patients, in 341 the viral genomes were sequenced to study their mutations and determine if they belonged to the B.1.1.7 variant. It was found that 198 or 58% were of the British variant and 143 or 42% were not.
The results of the study
Comparison of the clinical pictures of the two groups of patients revealed that both groups – those with the variant and those without it – presented a similar number of serious events and risk of death.
In this regard, the data showed that 36% of patients with COVID-19 caused by the British variant had serious illness or death, compared with 38% of those with infections not caused by the British variant.
Similarly, 16% of those with COVID-19 caused by the British variant died within the first 28 days of illness, compared to 17% of those with COVID-19 not caused by the British variant.
The researchers also found that patients with COVID-19 caused by the British variant were younger and had fewer associated diseases or comorbidities than those with infection not caused by the British variant.
Why is the number of young people hospitalized increasing? 1:09
An interesting find
One finding that caught the researchers’ attention was that the viral load was higher in patients with covid-19 caused by the British variant.
This fact – according to the researchers – could explain the greater contagiousness of people infected by this variant.
In summary, this study —which according to its authors constitutes a model to study the characteristics of covid-19 caused by the variants and therefore surpasses preliminary studies that in an indirect way had proposed that the virus could be more lethal— has found that the British variant B.1.1.1.7 is more contagious, but does not cause serious illness or more deaths than the original version of the new coronavirus.